


Dead Men do Tell Tales

by Letummordre



Series: Orderverse [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: AU and EU mixup, Established Relationship, Gen, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Related, Kylux mentioned, M/M, Past Attempted Murder, Past Violence, Sequel to a previous work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-09-30 20:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10171337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Letummordre/pseuds/Letummordre
Summary: Kylo faces at least part of his past, even when it hurts him.Closure is a long process.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a heads up: If you haven't read the Order of Everything first, some things won't make sense!  
> There is previous violence and past attempted murder mentioned, so please take care of yourself and heed the warnings if that squicks you.

“You’re doing remarkably well, for being dead.” A voice says, sitting at his side. 

“And you’re ten minutes late.” Kylo says, rolling a shoulder in a shrug before dipping a french fry in ketchup. “Ordered food and drinks without you.” 

“Fine by me.” His companion says, sitting across from him and putting his feet up next to Kylo. “I’m surprised you answered when I finally called you up. I assumed you’d want to keep it all in the past.” He eyes Kylo’s face with a surprising amount of concern, “You know the others came around. Realized what they did to you was wrong.” 

“I don’t care about them.” Kylo says, though he knows the way his eyes narrow and the way the skin of his back tightens when he tenses gives him away. “But you saved my life. I owed you enough to at least pick up the fucking phone, Karcsi.” 

“Good.” Karcsi gives a slight smile, “Hey, the scar suits you. You didn’t nearly go get yourself killed again, did you?”

“Wasn’t my fault.” Kylo snorts, “Motorcycle accident. Destroyed the bike so completely that she was basically scrap metal.”

Karcsi isn’t smiling anymore, and the solemnity on his face is concerning. “Are you sure it was an accident, Kylo?” 

He stares hard at the food in front of him, appetite flagging. “I didn’t tell H-- my boyfriend. But I don’t think it was. The person didn’t even stop.”

Karcsi sighs, bringing a hand out to gently clasp Kylo’s forearm. “I’m here for you, brother. You may not be a Knight of Ren, but you gave blood for our family. For me. I won’t forget that. You figure out who it is, and I’ll help you take care of it.”

Kylo smiles at him, genuinely. The left side of his lips don’t curve up as high as the right, but it came with the territory of the scar cutting across his face probably. “I know. I never doubted that. You risked a lot to… drag me out like that.”

“It was the right thing to do. Samira never quite recovered from that whole thing, you know? She was like your… fuckin’ apprentice of sorts. If you ever tried to take over the Knights, you’d have more support than you think. Snoke is… warped.” He looks over his shoulder, and back at Kylo. “He’s not you.” 

“No.” Kylo says, tensing. “I won’t-- I can’t go back to that. I wouldn’t put my loved ones in danger like that again. I’m lucky nothing happened to Rey or her boyfriend, after he did what he did to me.”

“He would have, if he knew you survived.” Karcsi says, emotionless. “I told them I buried you in the desert, somewhere.” 

Kylo barks a laugh, bitter. “I did die that day. Or at least part of me did.” 

“Emo kid.” Karcsi says, fondly. “Good to know you haven’t lost your sense of melodrama and self pity over time.” 

“Oh you know me, Linkin Park and Evanescence for life.” Kylo rolls his eyes, “You still playing around with the mechanic shops? Or have you given that up completely for the Knights?” 

Karcsi pulls Kylo’s beer to him and takes a drink from the rim Kylo hadn’t touched. “I don’t spend much time with them anymore. Samira is the only one keeping the group together at this point. I have my own shop.” He raises his eyes again and smirks. “I could take your piece of shit junk metal from your bike and build you something better.” 

“She was beautiful  _ before _ the wreckage.” Kylo said, offended on the bike’s behalf. “Hold on, I’m being summoned.” He pulls out his phone, checking the single message waiting for him. 

(1:15)  _ No 1 Fux like Hux: _ _ Is everything okay, or should I head over there? He better not threaten you.  _

(1:16)  _ Aww you’re worried! Everything is okay. I’ll be home soon.  _

(1:18)  _ No 1 Fux like Hux: _ _ How couldn’t I be worried? Wtf Kylo he’s part of the gang who tried to kill you. But okay, I’ll be waiting then.  _

(1:18)  _ <3333333 _

(1:18)  _ No 1 Fux like Hux: _ _ Ugh, emojis.  _

He made sure to send about fifteen kissy face emojis just for good measure before shoving his phone back into his pocket. “The boyfriend is worried I’m hanging out with part of my past family.” He says, trying to keep the happier mood compared to the dark history between them. 

“Good man, you need someone to look after you and make sure you’re not being stupid.” Karcsi smirks, “You’ve always been too headstrong for your own good.” 

“Oh yeah?” Kylo retorts, “Well… I guess you’re not wrong, now that I think about it.” 

He’d always been the one to rush into danger, and it had always gotten him into trouble. Especially when he felt like the world was behind him, with the Knights at his side. He’d been a fool. Karcsi and Hux, other than his family, had been the only two people to ever prove they were on his side. Everyone else… not so much. 

“You talked to your family, yet?” Karcsi asks, “I know you were estranged. With everything that happened before.” 

_ Anakin. _ That face would always haunt his nightmares and twist his stomach. Hux had let it go, after he told Hux the truth. But it’d never felt any better, telling anyone. 

Karcsi only knew because of the newspapers. He’d thought they’d all disappeared, but the man had a way of finding information one way or another. It hadn’t been hard to connect him to Ben Solo, the part of his past that had died with Anakin. 

“Nah.” Kylo says, pushing the basket of fries toward Karcsi in invitation. His appetite has completely fled at that point, anxiety warring in his stomach with the food he already had. “My dad came looking for me though, I guess. Tracked down my boyfriend.”

That had always concerned him. If his father had found him, it was all too probable that Snoke would. Someday. If he was looking. 

“I’m not telling you what to do, man. But I do think it would be good for you to get closure. You’re…” He searches for the word and settles on, “emotional, on good days. Outright a wreck on bad days. No offense.”

“Why would that be offensive?” Kylo asks, sarcastically. 

“You know I don’t mince words. And you know it’s true.” 

“I just…” Kylo frowns, “If I go back, it will open the wound all over again. They didn’t care anyway.”

“If they didn’t, they wouldn’t go looking for you. And this is another wound you’ve reopened. I know what happened that night has crossed your mind more than a few times. And sometimes you have to re-break bones to reset them.”

“Fucking metal.” Kylo mumbles, taking a drink of his beer. 

“Don’t be cute, Kylo. I’m being serious.”

“I know.” He says, on the verge of anger. But just as soon as it hits, it’s gone. The tidal wave of anger and sorrow washing away into numb acceptance. “I know,” he says quieter, “It’s been too long since I’ve seen Anakin anyway.” 

His gravestone has sat lonely, somewhere in the life he’d left behind. He knew that seeing it again would hurt, badly. But maybe it’d settle something in him that he couldn’t push down any other way. 

“Right. Do it for the kid, if you have to. But don’t push away the people that care for you. You saw what happens if shit goes wrong.” Karcsi smiles again, almost apologetically. “If it helps, I can’t forget what happened that night. Seeing you now is a relief, but I can’t forget what it was like to see you like that. I can’t forget seeing all that blood and thinking you were going to die in my back seat. I can’t forget thinking that if you died at the hospital, that was the last time I’d see you. It wasn’t fucking fair, Kylo. To you, or anyone else.” 

_ “Kylo, you better hang on. I’m going to be so pissed if you die on me. Do you know what I’m doing, right now? I’m going against Snoke for you. You’re not allowed to die. You’re not allowed to make this for nothing. You hear me, kid? You better not fucking die.”  _

Kylo nods, feeling like his throat is stuck to the roof of his mouth. 

_ “I want my sock back, when you survive this. I had to try and keep the blood in somehow. You’d laugh so hard right now, if you knew I’d hopped on one foot to grab my damn boot sock and tie it to your side. Can you even hear me? Jesus, kid. What the hell has he done? _

_ What have  _ **_we_ ** _ done to you?”  _

“By the way.” Kylo says, a mischievous smirk on his lips, “I have a gift for you.” 

“Oh?” Karcsi asks, lifting his head from the fries. 

Kylo reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls it out. So much time had passed, and he’d put it through the laundry when he’d gone home. But it was unmistakeable. A navy blue suck, pink lobsters printed all over it and stained dark where it’d soaked up his blood once. 

Karcsi’s face switched emotions quickly, somewhere between amusement to sorrow and settling into an awkward mix in between. “My sock.” He says, taking it from Kylo and brushing his fingers over the fabric. 

“I laughed, by the way.” Kylo says, his voice soft. “When my side was healed. That you tied it to me.” 

Karcsi shook his head, tucking the sock into his own jacket. “Mother fucker.” He says, finally. “It’s stained now, and that was my favorite.” 

Kylo laughs, feeling like some long open door left within him has finally closed shut.  

**Author's Note:**

> I thought for a long time about his relationship with the Knight who saved his life, and decided that I wanted to continue that in some aspect. I mentioned to someone that I wanted to continue parts of this 'verse eventually, and here it is!  
> Thank you all again for reading the original story, and hopefully you enjoy this one too.


End file.
